RALEIGH — Twenty years after the Hurricanes won their only championship, they’re headed back to the Stanley Cup final.
Carolina finished off the Montreal Canadiens in Friday’s Game 5 at Lenovo Center, scoring three times in the opening period en route to a 6-1 win to advance to a matchup against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Game 1 will be Tuesday at 8 p.m. in Raleigh.
“We thought from the time we came together as a group that this is where we would be,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour, who led Carolina to the Eastern Conference final three previous times, said. “And so it’s been a long journey, for sure. But I’m just really proud of the group.”
As they did in Game 4, the Hurricanes used three goals in succession to take control in the first period.
Just before the midway point of the opening frame, Jackson Blake handed the puck to linemate Logan Stankoven, who drove the net and forced a shot on Jakub Dobes (23 saves). Taylor Hall located the loose puck and scored his fifth goal of the playoffs at 9:17. Montreal coach Martin St. Louis challenged for goaltender interference, but the goal stood.
Carolina scored first in all five games of the series.
The Hurricanes’ second line was far from done.
Hall outmaneuvered Canadiens defenseman Mike Matheson behind the Montreal net, and he set up Stankoven at the right faceoff dot. Stankoven dusted off the puck and picked the blocker side top corner for his team-leading ninth goal of the postseason to double Carolina’s lead to 2-0 at 15:12.
After scoring 14 goals in the first 73 games of the regular season, Stankoven has scored 16 goals in the last 21 games, including nine in 13 postseason games.
“Growing up, I was kind of a guy that liked to score goals, and I knew I kind of had a knack for the net, so I practice my shot all the time in the summertime,” Stankoven said. “I have a spot under my garage. So I think when you put the reps in and the preparation and you feel good about your game, you know eventually things will work out for you.”
Eric Robinson closed the period with his third goal of the series and playoffs.
William Carrier flipped the puck out of the Hurricanes zone, and Robinson beat Matheson to the puck. He then trickled a shot through Dobes for a 3-0 lead at 16:52.
“When you can have a fourth line not only playing in their end and generating momentum but finding the back of the net, it’s a game changer,” Hall said. “… They’re a nightmare to play against.”
The final two periods were nothing more than a coronation.
Carolina outshot Montreal a reasonable 29-24 in the game, but for the series, the Hurricanes had a 166-89 advantage. Hall and Stankoven picked up their third points of the night, assisting on Blake’s fifth goal of the playoffs at 7:19 of the second, and Shayne Gostisbehere scored on the power play with 1:58 left in the middle frame to push the lead to 5-0. Seth Jarvis added an empty netter with 3:41 left for the icing on the cake.
The Hurricanes became the first team since the 1976 Canadiens to reach the Stanley Cup final with a 12-1 record.
“We’re doing the right things,” center Sebastian Aho said. “We’re skating hard, we’re checking hard, all that stuff. So I do think it helps that we haven’t played extra games.”
Frederik Andersen stopped 23 of 24 shots — the only blemish a Cole Caufield goal — a day after his longtime agent, Claude Lemieux, died by suicide.
“He was amazing,” Brind’Amour said of Andersen. “We knew, obviously, that this was going to be tough for him, just the nature of what happened, and to be honest, (I) wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to play. … That’s a tough time for him, but he made us all proud, that’s for sure.”
Carolina knows there’s an even larger task ahead — a matchup with the Golden Knights, who shockingly swept the Avalanche in the Western Conference final and have a championship pedigree having won the Cup in 2023.
But for the next 24 hours, the Hurricanes will relish their accomplishment and remember the scars of past disappointments.
“There’s been a lot of grinding and a lot of ups and downs,” Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal said, “but (I’m) just so proud of the group that we have here. … I’m just so happy to be where we’re at and just excited for the opportunity ahead.”
Notes: Taylor Hall had three points and has 16 in 13 playoff games. His 14 even-strength playoff points lead the NHL. … K’Andre Miller leads the playoffs in plus/minus with a plus 14. … Forwards Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Nicolas Deslauriers, defenseman Mike Reilly and goalie Pyotr Kochetkov were healthy scratches for Carolina.
